There is an inland and a coastal form for this species. The coastal form is a tree 10 metres or more in height, and the inland form is up to 4 metres tall with smaller, more coriaceous leaflets (Lewis 1987). The species differs from Abarema filamentosa in (inter alia) dense capitula of sessile or subsessile flowers and dull blackish, densly papillate pod-valves (Barneby and Grimes 1996).

Justification:Abarema cochliocarpos does not meet any of the criteria for the threatened categories. It has a large extent of occurrence (EOO) and area of occupancy (AOO), and specimens have been found in several protected areas. However, the Caatinga and savanna habitat that this species is found in is threatened and declining due to agricultural expansion. Although there are conservation actions in place such as those of the Nature Conservancy, further protection would help to ensure that A. cochliocarpos does not become threatened.

The species was previously listed as Vulnerable, however, it is now know to be more widely distributed than previously thought.

A. cochliocarpos occurs in coastal woodland, on sandy substrates, and inland on scrubby areas or open grassy slopes and savanna habitats (disturbed mata de cipo, caatinga, cerrado, campo rupestre), and in areas of secondary vegetation. It occurs over an elevation range of 200-1,300 m.

The main threats to this species are habitat loss as a result of agriculture and the intense use of natural resources in the area (The Nature Conservancy 2010). Opencast iron mining also occurs on a huge scale (Burman 1991). Around 7% of the Caatinga vegetation in Brazil is in protected areas, but only just over 1% of this protected habitat has full protection with restricted human use. The savanna habitats which are endemic to Brazil are currently not given enough attention, compared with the rainforests (Burman 1991).

Specimens have been collected for this species from a number of protected areas (Marimba/Iraquara, Chapada Diamantina National Park, Costa de Itacare/Serra Grande State Environmental Protection Area, Discovery Coast Atlantic Forest Reserves, Litoral Norte do Estado da Baia). The Nature Conservancy has been working with small communities in Brazil since the late 1990s to protect the Caatinga habitat, developing agro-forestry projects and increasing knowledge of the Caatinga and its ecology (The Nature Conservancy 2010). This species is not listed under CITES. Material has not been collected for the Millennium Seed Bank project.